Applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,417,425 discloses a molding apparatus in which a movable feeder is movable in a hopper toward and away from an exit to force plastic material through the exit into an article shaping mold adapted to communicate with the exit. Prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,186 discloses a molding apparatus having a narrow fill slot at the mold cavity. These and this application are assigned to the same assignee.
One of the features of this invention is to provide a molding apparatus in which plastic food material is forced from a supply under pressure through a passage into a shaping cavity and the walls of the passage are so arranged and sloped and spaced as to produce a combined mixing, tumbling and kneading of the material whereby fibers in the material are randomly intermixed so that during cooking and similar processing the shaped portion shrinks substantially uniformly in all directions and round patties, for example, substantially maintain their circular shape.